It took many decades for the money and political will to make the route to York U possible. People were hoping it would be done by early 1990's. How many more decades after the area north of York U is firmly developed, until they again find the money and will to expand north? While they got both, and the construction crew, it makes sense to do it now. The home developers and retail now no longer need to guess where the city will be because everything follows the ttc route.

It's for once forward thinking, and is more in line with the status of this city.

I remember when it was a nice country drive to get to Canada's Wonderland. And I remember seeing small airplanes using the airport that was next door to CW. Curious why the OP thinks it's people from Milton and Brampton that would be parking their cars at these stations, when you can see how far north the city has been expanding and how busy the 400 is. Cameraguy is right, it's a shame they stopped where they did.

It made sense for them to expand the subway up to York University. But I don't understand what the purpose of expanding it north via 3 additional stations, pioneer village station, 407 station, and vaughan metropolitan station (jane/hwy 7) was? There is simply not enough demand/ridership north of York University. It seems to me like some shady stuff involving those who run the city of Vaughan happened. I know Vaughan paid for a portion of the extension, but why was it allowed in the first place, when there are other places which have much higher potential demand/ridership numbers for a new subway?

I know that 407 station has a huge parking lot which means some people from brampton or milton come and park there then take the subway downtown. But still, I don't think a SUBWAY line was required for those people: shuttle busses straight to york university would enable them to reach the subway, and it would barely add any commute time. For the longest time there was no extention from downsview (the old downsview station) to york university and the 196 rocket was borderline sufficient in getting the massive number of people to York U and back from downsview, the ridership numbers between highway 407 and York U will not reach the downsview to York U 196 rocket numbers until the next 30 years. So why were 2 unnecessary subway stations created? Maybe provincial take over of transit will actually prevent these inefficient and irrational developments from happening.

It is actually pathetic how the TTC is forcing people to take the subway at those 3 unnecessary stops. They unnecessarily moved the buses from York U to pioneer village station just so people will have to "use the subway" for one stop back to York U. New infrastructure is supposed to make things faster and more efficient, but instead they created new unnecessary infrastructure then forced people to have a worse commute just so they can claim some artificially inflated ridership numbers to justify the unnecessary expansion.

The joke with GO/YRT to York U is even more ridiculous. Students have to pay an additional fare now, and they will also experience longer commutes. They are literally being forced to take the new subway even though it makes the commute less efficient. So what was the purpose of spending 100s of millions of dollars building those unnecessary additional stops/extension north of York U?

Prior to the subway extension those taking transit from Brampton would go directly to York U via 407, and people coming from Markham or Richmond Hill would take the viva purple which would go directly to York U. The new subway stations did not help these people one bit, in fact it made their commute longer and more expensive, because now they have to get off at a more north station, then pay for the subway, then go south again towards York U.

So who did the extension/stations above York U benefit? The VERY small number of people who live near Vaughan Metropolitan Centre who can walk to the new subway station. Even other residents of Vaughan who live further than this, their commute barely gets faster as they still have to take a bus to the new subway station. Previously those buses would go to York U. The new station barely makes that commute faster. So again, the only people who benefit are the few people who live within walking distance of the new Vaughan Metropolitan Centre station, and people driving on the 407 from Brampton who park their car at 407 station then take the subway south. But 95% of those people do so during work hours, so shuttle buses in the mornings and early evenings would have been more than enough to meet that demand, even if it expands. Maybe in 30 years there will be enough demand there to require the need of a subway, so why was the subway extended now when there are several other parts of the city that already have the demand for a subway?

How much ridership demand is there for Vaughan Mills though? There is already Yorkdale and Eaton Centre. Wonderland only operates a few months per year, and very few people go more than once or twice per season. Tourists would want to go to Wonderland but I just don't think the relatively small demand warrants a subway extension up there.

Because a subway to the north is cheaper than filling in Lake Ontario. This is where population growth is happening. Can't really make the 400 any bigger either.